Meet Joe. This morning, he woke up to the sound of a Bluetooth-enabled speaker connected to his smartphone, playing his favorite song. As he gets up for breakfast, he takes out a carton of milk and makes some pancakes. A tag on his refrigerator detects that he’s out of milk and immediately orders ones from the grocery. As he heads out for work, the fob on his car automatically unlocks his car and synchronizes his phone with the car’s audio system. His destination appears on the infotainment panel, showing the optimal route to his office.
Welcome to the Internet of Things.
What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?
The Internet of Things describes a world where everyday devices and appliances are connected to the internet. These smart home gadgets become smart enough to assist us in our lives in a coordinated and convenient manner.
Here, we take a look at the best smart home products available out on the market today, and how they fit in each room of your home. These smart devices have advanced technologies that can make our lives easier, healthier and more convenient.
Best Smart Home Products
Smart Home Products for the Bedroom
Most people spend 1/3 of their day in the bedroom, resting. The most important feature for bedroom smart gadgets ones that can help you sleep better – that includes managing temperature, keeping you comfortable, and making the area conducive to resting.
Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to a wide range of health problems, and a study from the Live Science Journal people shows that people who live in areas with high levels of pollution are 60% more likely sleep poorly.
The study found a correlation between the sleep quality of 1,863 individuals in six US cities and air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), finding a negative effect on sleep efficiency (the total amount of time spent asleep) and the number of awakenings in the middle of sleep.
Finding the right mix of products for the bedroom has never been more important.
Phillips Hue
- What is it?
- This smart light bulb seems unassuming at first glance, but it actually integrates well into your home. While it still offers the same basic function as any light bulb – the Hue comes with a hub unit that allows you to control your light using your smartphone.
- How can it help?
- The hub detects all bulbs installed in your home. You can control intensity and color ambiance, with settings like “Energized” or “Relaxed”. It can work with Alexa, Apple Home and Google Assistant, providing you perfect voice control for your bedroom. Sure beats getting up to turn off the lights!
- Price: $229.99 for the hub and three bulbs
Sensibo
- What is it?
- Sensibo is a convenient device that works with most conventional air conditioning units and hooks it up to the rest of your network. It’s a small device with an infrared sensor and a thermometer, designed to interface with your smartphone and adjust your thermostat virtually anywhere you are.
- How can it help?
- The Sensibo can track temperature and humidity with its sensor. It can adjust your air conditioner’s output when the room temperature hits certain thresholds. It also works with Alexa and Google Assistant, giving you complete voice command over your climate.
- Price: $119
Dreampad
- What is it?
- This pillow has quite a few tricks up its pillowcase. It’s a smart pillow that is capable of playing sounds that only you can hear, using bone conduction technology to deliver music straight into your head.
- How can it help?
- While stereo systems have done the job for decades, the Dreampad is unique in that it lets you enjoy an aural soundscape all by yourself. No more disturbing other people around you. It’s pre-loaded with 10 songs designed to ease you into sleep through relaxing ambient tones and brain frequency beats, reducing stress and promoting longer and better sleep.
- Price: $159
Smart Home Products for the Living Room
The living room is where people relax and socialize. The most important aspect of this room is to provide a comfortable space where people can just be themselves, kickback, and enjoy some daily entertainment.
Amazon Echo
- What is it?
- The Amazon Echo is basically a speaker with a microphone, programmed with Amazon’s intelligent Alexa AI that provides many smart home benefits to any household. You can look at it as a digital secretary, capable of remembering your schedule and answering simple questions, and even doing simple errands for you.
- How can it help?
- The Echo serves as a great hub to integrate with a lot of smart home gadgets on the market today. Many smart gadgets work with the Alexa standard, allowing you to control them using your voice as you would the Echo. With a low price combined with benefits like voice shopping on Amazon, the Echo is a must-have for any smart home. Later on, we’ll look at some of the functionality Alexa has as it works with other smart home gadgets.
- Price: $99
Google Chromecast Ultra
- What is it?
- The Chromecast turns your TV into a wireless streaming station that can be controlled by your smartphone. The new Chromecast Ultra improves on previous generations by having an Ethernet port, letting you stream faster and without lag, an essential trait for 4K video.
- How can it help?
- If you don’t have a smart TV, the Chromecast Ultra “smart-ifys” your TV for you. It lets your TV seamlessly stream content from Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, HBO Now, and more. It also integrates well with Google Home if you have it, allowing you talk to your TV and tell it what to play.
- Price: $69
uHoo
- What is it?
- The uHoo is a sophisticated device designed to detect and alert you about toxins and allergens in your home. With 8 different sensors to measure dust, carbon dioxide, VOCs, dangerous compounds like ozone and carbon monoxide, and more, the uHoo can protect your family from the invisible culprit that is indoor pollution.
- How can it help?
- Air quality is difficult to quantify because of the invisible nature of air. uHoo’s sensors let you monitor these in real time from your smartphone. Aside from letting you know when something isn’t right, uHoo also tells you what you can do about it. For example, it might suggest that you air out your space, reduce the use of chemical cleaners or wash your child’s toys. Additionally, the uHoo app offers access to all your data including measurements and history. You can see the effect that your activities and habits have on your health and home.
- uHoo has built in Alexa integration, so it works with devices like the Amazon echo to give you many of its functions through natural language voice command. You can give Alexa instructions like, “Alexa, ask uHoo to give me a summary for living room,” or “Alexa, ask uHoo about carbon dioxide level in bedroom.” Alexa will then connect with uHoo to get the current monitoring info and give it back in real time through voice.
- Price: $329
Smart Home Products for the Kid’s Room
Parenting is a big challenge, but leveraging modern technology can help make things go a lot smoother. Children need to be watched over to ensure their safety and well-being, but busy parents won’t always be there to check on the child every waking hour. Smart gadgets that help watch over and aid in parenting are ideal for the smart home with children.
Sleep IQ Kid’s Bed
- What is it?
- This smart bed features a sleep tracker, night lights, and even a monster detector for your little darling. Armed with an array of sensors, this children’s bed will be a joy for every child to sleep in.
- How can it help?
- Aside from its fun kid-friendly features, the Sleep IQ adjusts itself to accommodate the growing bodies of children, making changes to the support for proper comfort and spinal ultimate in a young growing body. It’s the perfect way to watch over your child and get some precious peace of mind.
- Price: $1,000
Monbaby Smart Button Baby Monitor
- What is it?
- This cute little device attaches to your baby’s clothing and acts like a friendly guardian, watching over your baby or toddler. It works with just about any kind of baby clothes. It’s -full of sensors and technology to monitor your baby’s sleep patterns.
- How can it help?
- The Monbaby is capable of monitoring your baby’s quality of sleeping, and can track when your little bundle of joy wakes up at night. It’s also capable of checking his breathing, and has the positional awareness to note how many times he’s rolled over to his stomach. You can set it to notify you when any of these events occur.
- Price: $99
UrbanHello REMI
- What is it?
- The REMI is a cute alarm clock capable of teaching your kids to tell time and wake up and sleep at the right times. It also doubles as an inconspicuous camera for you to watch over your child. This kind of information is great to have and isn’t as obtrusive as a wearable for older children.
- How can it help?
- Basically a sleep trainer and a baby monitor, the REMI has many of the advantages of a wearable monitor. It also has a speaker that acts like an intercom for parents to speak with their child. It also plays music to soothe and help your child sleep.
- Price: $100
Smart Home Products for the Kitchen
The place where meals are prepared and eaten, the kitchen benefits from items that help prepare food and make the process more convenient. Making sure food tastes great and can be prepared in less time is the key.
Behmor Connected Coffee Maker
- What is it?
- This WiFi coffee maker is certified by the Specialty Coffee Association and has quite a few tricks aside from connecting to your phone. With a wealth of coffee profiles available, you have fine control over water temperature, soak time and brewing time, producing a superior tasting cup each time with no fuss.
- How can it help?
- Automated coffee in the morning is a great convenience in and of itself. With Alexa support, all you need to do is tell it to start your day. The Behmor also has various profiles to brew coffee with a variety of beans, settings that have been tested by coffee connoisseurs. If you’re still looking to customize to your taste, it has enough fine controls to brew your coffee just the way you like it.
- Price: $169.99
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
- What is it?
- This smart refrigerator keeps your food fresh, but is chock full of features that suit the smart home lifestyle. With a 21.5-inch touchscreen on the front panel to access its apps and an array of cameras inside, the Family Hub knows what’s going on in the kitchen better than anyone.
- How can it help?
- The cameras track the ingredients in your fridge, and the refrigerator knows how much you have of everything along with their expiry dates. It has a built-in shopping app to tell you what you’re missing for your next trip to the grocery, or order it for delivery itself. Refrigerators have always been a central post for families, and this fridge brings that concept to the next level.
- Price: $3,495
iRobot Roomba 690 Robot Vacuum
- What is it?
- The Roomba is a tiny robot that can help with the house cleaning chores in a big way. Little more than a 7-inch square on the floor, the Roomba has a full array of sensors to get around, and afterward stows away in its dock for a recharge. It has WiFi and works with Alexa as well.
- How can it help?
- Capable of cleaning a room in 15 minutes all on its own, the Roomba glides around the room with a three-stage cleaning system. It’s pretty quiet as it goes about its work, letting you skip the chores and enjoy a movie or enjoy the silence while it does its thing, mopping up messes in the kitchen and other rooms of your house. It’s also voice controllable with Alexa and Google Assistant. A clean house is a healthy house, and helps stop the spread of germs and the growth of molds that can damage your health.
- Price: $319.99
IoT is changing our lives
While not every home needs all of these gadgets, most people would probably want these in their smart home. Not only do they provide a lot of ease and automation, but many of these devices also help improve your health in many ways, from reducing stress to ensuring that your home has clean air to breathe in.
It’s a brave new era for the internet of things and these devices are at the forefront of the smart home revolution. There’s sure to be a smart device here that fits your lifestyle, or perhaps all of them work for you?
